Review Fix chats with Shezo Games’ Will Voxdei, who discusses the inspiration and creative process behind the new Steam game.
About Darkanoid:
Darkanoid contains two game modes. In Classic Mode you will have to go through 40 levels, beat 4 bosses and gain points in the special bonus stages.
Choose from 3 different levels of difficulty and use 11 special power-ups along with your regular fire gun and shield. Darkanoid also includes teleports and flying blocks.
In Survival mode, you must break through a wave of blocks, drones and bosses, all moving towards you. Your task is to survive as long as possible and you’ll only be able to win lives by defeating the bosses.
Darkanoid will be released on mobile platforms in May. In addition, a new game PvP mode and in-game cards will be integrated in Q3 2021.
Review Fix: How was this game born?
Will Voxdei: The very idea to assemble a team arose back in 2019, and from that moment on, we tried ourselves in three different genres. One of the genres was the good old arcade in the style of Arkanoid, familiar from the days of slot machines as ping-pong. At that time, we did not know a lot about developing a high-quality game, and, moreover, about the nuances of their promotion. As soon as we made a prototype, we hurried to get into early access on Steam. After that, there was painstaking work on improving the game mechanics and polishing the graphics component. So far, we are supporting the game on Steam, fixing and improving the current game mechanics, and also working on developing a mobile version. We are also preparing more global improvements and secrets for the project.
Review Fix: What is your role in the game?
Voxdei: When I came to the project, a prototype of the game with the main core mechanics was already made. My task was to diversify the basic game mechanics, introduce new game features, such as a skin store, create a balance of levels and raise the graphics component to the level of at least AAA.
The screenshots clearly show what was in the early stages of development and what the game became after the final release. Of course, there were also intermediate versions, but with what the game is now, it is simply incomparable.
Review Fix: What has development been like?
Voxdei: Development lasted quite a long time, as for our programmer it was the first experience of developing a game from scratch. In addition, the game was initially developed using 3d graphics, but for aesthetic reasons and in the absence of the necessary experience, the team had to partially abandon this, although at the last moment.
Already in the middle of development, we had to resort to additional help, and we connected another coder. The development process accelerated, now each of them performed their own set of tasks, and in parallel they began to learn the craft of writing beautiful code from each other.
Review Fix: What makes this game special?
Voxdei: First of all, it is the genre itself. Now there are very few games that offer the player to plunge into memories from childhood or youth, well, or when many of us were introduced to computers, and this happened through computer games. Remember the first gaming clubs with a PC on 5.25-inch floppy disks? Or the ZX-Spectrum? So, arkanod was one of my first games. I’ve always had a warm feeling for this genre.
As for the Darkanoid – one of its key features is that there is no need to catch falling bonuses with the bat. They just appear in the place of the broken block and then you need to hit the ball on the bonus to activate it. Everything is in your hands, it all depends on your skill in controlling the bat, which you can use to direct the ball in the right direction or deflect it if there is an anti-bonus, for example, a cross-bomb. You will have a limited amount of time to activate some bonuses, so it is up to you to decide whether to take this bonus or wait for it to disappear. The next feature is the format for displaying and placing game elements on the screen – the horizontal game mode. This may seem unusual to some players, but we decided so and we have already done so :) . Many innovations have been made regarding game mechanics. One of them can be noted – the so-called hidden Bonus level. This is more of a challenge for players, for hardcore players, it’s not enough to get into this level, also the control itself will seem unusual to the player at the first time, but exciting. Here, the player is asked to control two platforms at once, moving inversely. Try to reach the Bonus level, pass it and get pleasure. We can say that we challenge all the players of our arkanoid)
In addition, we tried to please a different part of the playing audience and implemented roguelike in the second game mode. The game has a store with platform skins that give a unique bonus for the current game and make your game comfortable and the passage itself is truly unique. In our game there are still a lot of interesting things that you cannot see in other similar games. We decided to be bold and innovative in our first game.
Review Fix: What games influenced this one the most?
Voxdei: First of all, we focused on the game Z-ball. Despite the graphical simplicity, this game really from a certain point fascinates and draws you completely.
Of course, we also looked at many other games from this genre, among which I would particularly like to highlight two games – Caromblel and Shatter. Based on their experience and their vision in the development of this classic genre.
Review Fix: Any fun stories or wild moments during development?
Voxdei: When I came to the project, the team clearly wanted to see a hardcore game. I agree, to develop a good game, especially a native of the classic genre, it was the right direction. I’ll tell you a little bit about some of the features of hardcore, which our programmer wanted – when the player does not launch ball, all the blocks fly towards the platform with an explosion.
I left this mechanic, but made it clear to the player, that is, the rules of this universe were formed, which on an intuitive level became clear to the player.
On the one hand, the pressure for the player was preserved, on the other hand, it was possible to avoid the gratuitous and unprofitable destruction of blocks, since points are awarded for hitting the ball on the block. Also, this improved mechanics with flying blocks allowed to solve the main problem of the arkanoid, when one or two blocks remained on the field and only after their destruction the level would be passed. Now the lone blocks themselves solved the problem at the end of the level.
In the initial implementation, there were also such mechanics that allowed you to complete a level without even launching a ball into the game. The ball was launched only at the will of the player. This omission was corrected by automatically launching the ball from the platform. So you will have to accept the challenge of our arkanoid!
Review Fix: What were the major lessons learned?
Voxdei: We understood a lot of things, but here, perhaps, it is worth highlighting two points: first, you should not be scattered on other projects; secondly, you should start telling the audience about the game and look for a publisher much earlier.
Review Fix: Do you think preserving older gameplay mechanics in new games is important?
Voxdei: If we are talking about a specific game genre that is taken as a basis, then yes, it is important to adhere to the basic postulates. But, you can also abandon them, apply innovative ideas, then it will be a completely new game, in a new and unique genre. The main thing is that it is appreciated not only by you and your grandmother, but also by the gaming audience :).
I would also like to note that some developers in the pursuit of new features begin to reinvent the wheel and forget that everything new is well-forgotten old. Sometimes you need to be able to stop, to be able to look back and, perhaps, in the old will be spied and noticed something that will be rethought, that will get a new breath and will appeal to others. If you remember the old games, where the graphics were not their strong point, the developers took an interesting gameplay and narrative part as a basis.
Review Fix: What’s your favorite memory as a gamer?
Voxdei: It may sound trite, but it was the time of my studies, when in the evenings I would come to the computer class to supposedly do some practical task, and I would take out a 3.5 ” floppy disks from my bag, install the games Dune, Sim City, X-Com, those games that ran on a personal computer x386. The teacher, of course, saw what I was doing, like many in this class, but, showing tolerance for my young impulse, did not say anything, and the next time I came to class, there were no games on this computer. But the floppy disks were always with me. I remember how I learned about the possibility of the ndd utility, so as not to install games every time, since the procedure was very long to install the same X-Com, I changed the folder attribute to the file attribute:) A couple of evenings were saved, but the teacher most likely guessed to run the utility to find lost clusters… I hope you understand what I’m talking about now?:)
Review Fix: How have your previous experiences in industry helped this game?
Voxdei: Any experience gained in the gaming industry as a developer, including personal experience in spare time as a player. All this helped me to improve the game and bring it from the prototype level to the level that we see in the release.
I must say that in the genre of Arkanoid, this was my first experience, but for a game designer, it does not matter what genre the game is made in. For my projects with my team of friends, I develop games in completely different genres, not in those that are required by the company, the customer or the audience. The main thing is to be able to understand the game mechanics and be able to improve them, combine them, and if a muse visits, then come up with a truly new one.
Review Fix: How do you want this game to ultimately be remembered?
Voxdei: We would like this game to be a challenge for the player. Modern games, except like Dark Souls, pampered the player or in the pursuit of complexity forget what balance is.
At the sight of the platform and the ball, the current audience may say: “Ew, an ordinary arkanoid. What’s the big deal?”. The essence is not in the wrapper, not in the old impressions that can not be returned, the essence is much deeper, and when the player plays Darkanoid, he will see and discover for himself the essence that was hidden by our team in the gameplay, and will receive divine satisfaction from this realization. The essence of our game is much deeper than 2 hours of playing on a difficulty higher than the first. The point is to challenge the player, which we did, twice, once in each of the game modes. And the few players who left comments expressed their knowledge of the essence of our game. For which we are very grateful!
Review Fix: What’s next?
Voxdei: The next stage will be porting Darkanoid to mobile platforms. Next, we plan to introduce a new PvP mode – Duel, where players will be able to challenge each other, and since this is our first project and we did not have time to gain trust, the gift for our players will be in-game cards that can be found during the passage.
Also at the moment, we are developing a game for mobile platforms in the genre of puzzles in the space setting.
Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?
Voxdei: There is always something to add, a lot of stories have happened to us all during the development process, something is happening right now, ideas that come to mind and fall on paper. Any game development team will confirm this to you
The main thing for us is the team spirit and the desire to create great games. I will say for myself, if you are engaged in game development, then first of all, you, as an artist, should put your soul, love what you do, no matter if you write code or are engaged in promotion. Creativity is a disease, and everyone in the team must be terminally ill with this noble disease. Immunity is for weaklings!:)
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